a history of curriculum services canada
a history of curriculum services canada
a history of curriculum services canada
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1995<br />
It was unclear exactly how these goals were to be achieved. How would these new initiatives<br />
affect and/or interact with existing ones? Stakeholders at all levels needed to understand how<br />
changes would be implemented, who would have input into the development <strong>of</strong> implementation<br />
processes, and how these processes would affect them. They wondered where the new teacher<br />
and student materials necessary to support these <strong>curriculum</strong> changes would come from - and<br />
when. 12<br />
Meanwhile in March, OCC hosted a meeting <strong>of</strong> the OTF Curriculum Forum as part <strong>of</strong> the<br />
feedback process on the Transition Years Catalogue. They learned that, despite their<br />
considerable efforts, very few teachers had actually seen a copy, though those who had were<br />
pleased to see their input reflected in the final version. After examining the catalogue, Forum<br />
members reiterated strongly the need to include only the best materials in future versions. They<br />
also questioned how teacher-developed materials might be incorporated and whether a reward<br />
could be established for excellence. Many suggestions were made for ways to bring the<br />
catalogue into better focus and for ways to expand its usefulness.<br />
The Forum also expressed interest in an online catalogue that teachers with computers could<br />
access from home. With most schools not yet “online” and many without even a single<br />
computer, the issue <strong>of</strong> equality <strong>of</strong> access was troubling. On 2 March, Premier Bob Rae<br />
announced a major initiative, "To Prepare Ontario Schools for the Information Age." As part <strong>of</strong><br />
this program, the Education Network <strong>of</strong> Ontario (ENO) would receive $5 million from the<br />
Ministry <strong>of</strong> Economic Development and Trade “to expand system capacity and access.” (This<br />
funding was part <strong>of</strong> a $15 million jump-start through Ontario Network Infrastructure Program<br />
(ONIP) 13 and was in addition to $4.25 million already committed by MET to ENO). Shortly<br />
thereafter, MET issued an Information Technology announcement that would result in increased<br />
hardware and s<strong>of</strong>tware purchases for schools around the province. While all <strong>of</strong> this support was<br />
positive, the problem <strong>of</strong> how to ensure equality <strong>of</strong> access remained.<br />
As March ended, the Work Group learned that the ONeducation CD-ROM would be ready for<br />
distribution in late April and that FileMaker Pro diskette versions <strong>of</strong> the catalogue could be ready<br />
by the end <strong>of</strong> June. This would provide all MAC users, as well as PC users, with electronic<br />
access. The online version, however, was less certain. Problems at ENO led OCC to consider<br />
having a “front end” or user interface created for their STAR database (still in development at<br />
ONTERIS/OISE). This would make it possible to access the catalogue from the ENO site and/or<br />
have another server host a dedicated “OCC site.” In the meantime, the Work Group contracted<br />
for a newsletter-style colour insert to serve as the first print catalogue update.<br />
Providing the catalogue in multiple formats was in line with the results <strong>of</strong> the survey initiated in<br />
June 1994 (published 31 March 1995 as Ontario Curriculum Clearinghouse Curriculum<br />
Resource Materials Survey 1994/95). School boards, teacher federations, subject/special interest<br />
associations, faculties <strong>of</strong> education, consortia, and Ontario government ministries were asked<br />
five specific questions and also invited to provide comments and suggestions. The five questions<br />
©2008 Curriculum Services Canada 20